Illegal vendors settle in at National Garden Park

Trans. by L.NANDINTSETSEG

Three years have passed since National Garden Park opened in Ulaanbaatar. National Garden Park has become one of the most popular places for residents to spend their free time, aside from the National Park of Rest and Culture and Zaisan Tolgoi. The number of visitors to National Garden Park has risen in the past year. The park sees an average of 300 daily visitors.
The construction of National Garden Park is considered one of the city’s largest and most successful creations, with a big green space (home to 110,000 trees, bushes and flowers of 22 varieties), a bicycle path, a 40 meter water fountain that turns 360 degrees, a 24×230 meter granite-paved square, 30 sculptures, a children’s sport square, a 2.5 meter ski track, and a 40×40 meter ice rink.
Unuudur visited National Garden Park on July 22, at 9 p.m. Even though National Garden Park has 300 parking spaces in its designated lot, people parked their cars on the road in front of the main entrance to avoid the 1,000 MNT per hour parking rate.
Buses and other vehicles selling khuushuur and beverages are located near the main entrance. The buses set out some tables and chairs near their businesses and serve people food without a sanitation license. On average, one khuushuur costs 1,000 MNT, while mutton shashlik costs 8,000 MNT. The disturbing smoke from barbeque grills does not allow for normal breathing and is reminiscent of a black market. The ground is full of trash. In addition to food businesses there are also gaming kiosks. Many small businesses set up quickly outside of National Garden Park. Visitors can pay 10,000 MNT to wait for 15 to 20 minutes for a portrait, or 3,000 MNT to be photographed with an eagle.
People come to the park to take a break from city noise and for a breath of fresh air. But there is no way to take a break at National Garden Park. We encountered 10-year-old children walking around and selling khuushuur. Every country has a public park where fast food, gaming kiosks and commerce are available, but at least they have permits and sanitation licenses.
Many of the vendors outside of National Garden Park don’t have business permits. Four Bayanzurkh district police officers and three security services patrol National Garden Park every day, but only a few people carry out their duties.
There are no standardized and permitted facilities at National Garden Park, except for four food kiosks and the restrooms.
“It is very nice here. The National Garden Park is more developed than past years. I think it is the only place where young people can spend their free time, and I’m happy about that. But related organizations should pay more attention to non-licensed food sellers,” said resident of Bayangol district, S.Jargal.
In 2009, ex-Governor and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar G.Munkhbayar initiated the project to build the park. The original plan for the park was for 1,280 hectares, but real size of the park is 960 hectares. The National Garden Park will continue to be developed through 2020. Soccer fields, flower gardens, a beach, an ampitheatre, and an aerial lift will eventually be added.
At this time, 55 hectares of National Garden Park is covered with trees and bushes, representing 23 percent of Ulaanbaatar’s green space. The park is located 2.1 kilometers from Chinggis Square, covering 960 hectares from Marshall Bridge to Bayanzurkh Bridge along the Tuul River. Twenty-seven employees started the construction of the National Garden Park in 2010, and now there are 113 employees. By 2020, the biggest garden park in the world will be built in Mongolia, which sounds great!

Source: Unuudur, http://www.mongolnews.mn/p/53622

Short URL: http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=10932

Posted by The UB Post
on Jul 29 2014. Filed under Community.
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